Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a deployable segmented sport equipment for use in connection with reducing the impact force on sport equipment by automatically deploying impact absorbing segments.
Description of the Prior Art
Athletes that participate in contact sports, such as American football and hockey, are subject to exposure to hyperextension, whiplash-type head movement, axial cervical compressive forces, concussion and subarachnoid hemorrhage. Particular athletes and their playing positions are subjected to greater physical contact per play which can force the athletes head rapidly backward to create a whiplash effect or can incur a strong impact, which can result in serious and disabling injury, and even contribute to death.
According to a research by The New York Times released on Sep. 16, 2007, at least 50 high school or younger football players in more than 20 states since 1997 have been killed or have sustained serious head injuries on the field. A further study published in the September 5th issue of Neurology, indicated that National Football League (NFL) players may face a higher risk of dying from Alzheimer's disease or amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS). This study links the risk to head injuries, even while wearing a protective helmet authorized by the NFL.
Researchers from the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health in Cincinnati analyzed 3,439 former NFL players who had spent at least five seasons in the league between 1959 and 1988. Of those players, 334 of them had died. Their causes of death were analyzed by researchers, and it was found that seven had died of Alzheimer's and seven had died of ALS. It was also determined that this is nearly four times higher a rate than that of the general population. Thus resulting in a possible direct link between helmet impacts and increase rate of death.
Outside the link between Alzheimer's disease or ALS and head injuries, another type of injury suffered by football players is a concussion. A concussion is defined as an impact to the head that causes a change in mental status. Changes in mental status include memory problems, dizziness, headaches, confusion, and blurred vision or even loss of consciousness. These symptoms may last a few minutes or many days. Not all people who have concussions lose consciousness.
Although football players wear helmets and other protective equipment, many players still suffer concussions. Over the last 20 years there have been studies that indicate that 15-20% of high school football players (200,000-250,000 players) suffer concussions each year. Researchers at the Sports Medicine Research Laboratory at the University of North Carolina analyzed data from 242 schools and 17,549 football players. They found that 888 players (5.1%) had at least one concussion in a season. Of the 888 players who had one concussion, 131 of them (14.7%) had another concussion the same season.
Even though concussions appear to have decreased in the number and severity over the last few years, the overall number of head injuries is still high. As shown by the Sports Medicine Research Laboratory study, players who have one concussion are approximately three times more likely to have a second concussion the same season than those players who have not had an injury. Head injuries jeopardize not only football players' careers, but their future health.
Several types of impact absorbing equipment, such as helmets, have been developed for athletes participating in severe contact sports wherein the player's helmet includes shock absorbing sections that absorb a percentage of the impact force. However, these systems to do not provide automatically deployable impact absorbing segments, which can be used in combination with proactive repulsion characteristics to reduce the impact force prior to contact with the helmet.
The known impact absorbing helmets are designed to reduce direct impact forces that can mechanically damage an area of contact. Known impact absorbing helmets will typically include padding and a protective shell to reduce the risk of physical head injury. Helmet liners are provided beneath a hardened exterior shell to reduce violent deceleration of the head. These types of protective gear are reasonably effective in preventing injury. Nonetheless, the effectiveness of protective gear remains limited.
Additional known impact absorbing helmets include spring biased sections that are always in an extended or deployed position. Thus leaving the sections extended away from the helmet which increases the chances of damage do the sections, and more importantly increases the chance of injuring a player. A player's hand or fingers may graze across these types of helmets during normal play, whereby a finger may get caught under the extended sections and thus injuring the player's finger or jerking the helmet and injuring the wearer.
While the above-described devices fulfill their respective, particular objectives and requirements, the aforementioned patents do not describe a deployable segmented sport equipment that allows reducing the impact force on sport equipment by automatically deploying impact absorbing segments.
Therefore, a need exists for a new and improved deployable segmented sport equipment that can be used for reducing the impact force on sport equipment by automatically deploying impact absorbing segments. In this regard, the present invention substantially fulfills this need. In this respect, the deployable segmented sport equipment according to the present invention substantially departs from the conventional concepts and designs of the prior art, and in doing so provides an apparatus primarily developed for the purpose of reducing the impact force on sport equipment by automatically deploying impact absorbing segments.